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Confessions of an Accidental Activist

As our new newsletter was conceived and as a new year begins, I thought it would be kinda cool for us to be able to share some thoughts and ideas about our work. Then came the time for me actually to put hands to keyboard and it all came to a grinding halt. What the heck do I have to say? I’m not even a real activist. Or am I?

A year ago, we had a choice. We could stay in a pit of despair, or we could do something. We chose to do something. A bunch of women and one man came to Giuseppe’s in Lambertville to do something. (See ILNH member Olga Vannucci’s limerick on that, below!) Then, a bunch more people came to Dig! Yoga a couple weeks later, to do somethin

Before any of us had a moment to wonder if it was a good idea, or if we had time and energy to change the very nature of our lives, we were activists.

On a daily basis, I find myself pleasantly surprised and completely terrified.

For the past year, I have thought of all of us who are part of Indivisible Lambertville-New Hope as kind of “accidental activists.” After the reality of the 2016 election sank in, the only thing that made sense was to come together and fight and work and push back against the daily stream of assaults to our democracy. And we did!

Our mighty little community tried everything. We all stretched ourselves to do things we had never done before. We hosted postcard parties, we got out the vote, we taught ourselves the issues, we learned social media, we got a website, we got incorporated, we marched, we protested, we wrote, we called, we resistbot-ed we texted, we 4-H’d, and so much more. Heck, when one of our Congressmen called us “ruffians,” we knew we were doing something right! As we get ready to start 2018, two things are clear: First, we are now intentional activists; Second, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We have some big fights ahead of us, and while they will test our determination, we can and will show up with the same passion and dedication that we brought to Year One. We will have some days that feel like a gut punch and others that feel triumphant. We will sometimes feel exhausted and we will need our Indivisible peeps to step up so that we can sit down and rest for a minute. I don’t know what 2018 will bring but I have no doubt that it will be amazing.